NIH Grants More than $3.2 Billion to the BioHealth Capital Region in 2022
By Alex Keown
March 27, 2023
The National Institutes of Health awarded more than $3.2 billion in grants and awards to organizations across the BioHealth Capital Region. The funds supported critical research and programming for companies, universities and other institutions across the fourth-ranked life sciences ecosystem.
Maryland
In 2022, the NIH awarded approximately $2.407 billion in grants and contracts to Maryland recipients, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Leidos Biomedical. A full breakdown of recipients can be found here.
With nearly 1,500 separate awards from the NIH totaling more than $839 million, Johns Hopkins received the largest share of federal funds. In 2022, the university received a total of $839,852,301. Funds will support a myriad of research projects, such as inflammation-associated olfactory dysfunction and family-based, culturally-centered diabetes intervention.
At $625 million, Leidos Biomedical Research received the second highest amount of NIH funding. The federal agency granted a total of $635,102,662 to Leidos to support its scientific programs, including a 2022 partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In 2022, Leidos was tapped to provide a suite of biomedical, preclinical and development capabilities and capacity to the NIAID. Those capabilities included chemistry manufacturing and control, non-clinical research, analytics, bioinformatics, computational biology, biostatistical services and more.
UMBC garnered $224,077,181 from the NIH in support of 441 projects. Among those awards was a $13.7 million grant to increase faculty diversity at the school and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In all, the NIH funds will support the hiring of a group of four faculty members at UMBC and six at UMSOM over five years. The new hires are expected to be from groups underrepresented in biomedical science.
It is estimated that for every $1 the NIH awards, there is a corresponding $2.64 of economic activity. United for Medical Research estimated the total 2022 awards from the NIH in Maryland directly supported 30,932 jobs. Additionally, the researchers said the NIH funding generated $5.56 billion in economic activity in Maryland last year.
Virginia
Virginia institutes and organizations received a total of $630.9 million in NIH grants and contracts during 2022. Funding supported programs at the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and more.
UVA received $192,312,263 from the NIH in support of 435 different projects during 2022. Federal funds supported research into multiple projects, including Crohn’s disease. Last year the Charlottesville-based university secured $3.6 million from the NIH to “characterize Crohn’s at the most fundamental levels.” The team will develop a computer model that interprets cellular activity in the ileum, a section of the small intestine typically impacted by Crohn’s.
Richmond-based Virginia Commonwealth University received $105,477,342 in 2022 NIH funding that supported 259 different projects. One program supported by the NIH will examine racial disparities in pain management. The NIH granted $2.4 million to support research examining inequality in pain management based on race.
Virginia Tech received $50,738,688 from the NIH last year. Those funds supported 134 different projects, including $6.5 million supporting cardiovascular research. NIH funding is also supporting addiction recovery research, as well as imaging biomarkers to support CAR-T therapies.
Other awards include $31 million to Manassas-based ATCC in support of nine different programs, as well as $18.5 million to George Mason University.
United for Medical Research estimated the total 2022 awards from the NIH directly supported 9,202 jobs and $1.748 billion in economic activity.
Washington, DC
In 2022, the NIH awarded $241.7 million to institutes and organizations in Washington, D.C. That funding supported 787 jobs and $473 million in economic activity within D.C., United for Medical Research reported.
With 122-backed projects, George Washington University received the most NIH funding in 2022. The university secured a total of $79,958,263. Among the NIH-based projects were grants aimed at improving HIV screening and COVID-19 vaccine screening in primary care settings. Working in partnership with Gilead Sciences, the university’s program is designed to provide primary care physicians with the training to “routinize HIV screening for all patients, alongside screening for and administering COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.”
Howard University received $13.4 million from the NIH. Those funds support 25 different programs, including a $1.3 million grant to study drug therapy problems related to fighting triple-negative breast cancer and HIV/AIDS, diseases that disproportionately affect the African-American communities. The NIH provided $616,000 to research triple-negative breast cancer and $772,500 for HIV/AIDS.
Other NIH awards in D.C. include $a little more than $51 million to Georgetown University in support of 141 programs. Children’s National Research Institute snagged a little more than $40 million in support of 84 different programs last year.
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Alex Keown is a freelance journalist who writes about a variety of subjects including the pharma, biotech, and life science industries. Prior to freelancing, Alex has served as a staff writer and editor for several publications.
